A Cat is a Cat
by Intrepid Daydreamer
Summary: Five times Delta reminded everyone that a big cat is still a cat. Set in the canon of Passing Silhouettes.


Hello all!

I needed some practice before I hopped back in to my main story, and this is an idea I've been tossing back and forth for a while now. So, welcome to the first - of hopefully many - of my little Passing Silhouettes side stories!

This story is going to be a little five chapter delve in to the canon of Passing Silhouettes, so if you're not familiar with Isadora and Delta, you may want to hop over to that story to get a better idea of who's who and what's what.

* * *

If I Fits, I Sits

* * *

Fall in Halure was always a peaceful time. The leaves on the great tree would begin to change colors from from a pale green to a bold and fiery red after transitioning through each shade of yellow and orange. They would fall soon after, coating the streets just as the petals of the blossoms did in the spring.

That, and it was harvest time. The weather was changing, people were excited, and the mayor would be throwing his annual festival soon to celebrate the season. In another week or so, the town would be crowded and lively, teeming with people from across the continent for the party.

But for now, the town was quiet.

Delta and I walked leisurely through the mid-morning calm across the town, a basket full of flowers on one arm. My partner was trotting along happily a few steps ahead of me, spiked tail swaying back and forth across the dusty path.

Eventually, we reached our destination: Halure's installation of Fortune's Market. I cleared my throat as I approached, and a male form raised a hand in a leisurely wave.

"Morning, 'Dory, dear," greeted the tradesmaster with a smile, pushing up from the seat at his desk. He was a kind man, older than me by a decade or so, and had always been sweet to me.

"Hi, James." I heaved my basket on to his counter. "Got some things for you."

The side of his mouth turned up into a grin. "Straight to business then. I like it." He started nosing through the goods I'd brought. "How'd your lavender crop do? I know it's been warmer than usual lately - that okay for 'em?"

"The heat's not great for them, but the turnover was alright. My marjoram went much better than last time though." Last fall had been too cold for the crop, and we'd both been disappointed in the outcome.

"Boss'll be happy to hear that. You always do well for us."

"Yeah, well, you've been good to _us_." I nodded over to Delta, who was sitting patiently to my right. Her tail was wrapped loosely around her paws, and the layered scales that trailed down her spine were shifting ever so slightly with each breath - completely at ease.

"Oh, speaking of being good to you -" James held up a finger and rummaged through some of the items he had on his desk behind the counter until he came to a small notebook. He thumbed quickly through the pages until he found what he was looking for and pointed with a pencil he'd pulled from behind his ear.

"I can do the same price per bushel as last time." He held up a single sprout of the purple flowers that had a thick black ribbon tied around its stem.

Inscribed on the back of the ribbon was a formula seal with a small, three foot by three foot pocket dimension full of the flowers. It saved space, both in the growth and the transportation of the products. So long as the original plant was healthy, anything in the pocket space would be as well.

We bartered good-naturedly for a few more minutes, then settled on the original price like we always did. Fortune's Market was always fair with their prices, and I always sold the excess crops from my garden to them. It was an unexpected, mutually beneficial business relationship, something I hadn't thought would ever come of a simple hobby.

James handed me a pouch of gald and a short list of orders he'd gotten from local patrons.

"Thanks. I'll see what I've got and get back to you. Until then -" I turned to leave, whistling softly to snap Delta out of her daze. She mewled, high and sudden, stretching her front paws out in front of her and sticking her butt in the air. Two slow blinks and a yawn later, she was back in the land of the living.

"Hey - one more thing before you go," James said quickly, "I've got something back here for you. I think you're gonna like it." He ducked down, disappearing beneath the counter.

I couldn't hide the smile I felt creeping slowly across my face. "Please tell me it's what I think it is."

With a grunt from the tradesmaster, a large box appeared from beneath the counter. "If you think it's a bunch of random plants from across the world, you're going to be very pleased." He motioned to the box. "If it's not - well, I don't know what to tell ya."

I almost groaned. "Oh thank goodness." I reached out for the box and James immediately let go and stepped back, hands up in surrender.

"You do your thing 'Dory, just take good care of those," he said with a wink. "Went through a lot of trouble to get 'em for you."

I grinned as I took the box in my arms. "I can imagine. How much of this gald do I have to give back to you for that trouble?" It had been months since I'd been placed the order and I was starting to wonder when it would come in.

"You settled half the cost of the order up front, right?" He went back to his ledger and flipped through the pages as he spoke, pausing to look back at me. I nodded. "So we're only looking at a fraction of the gold we'd talked about - let me see."

Delta sneezed suddenly, and I glanced down at her. Yellow eyes blinked back innocently, but her nose was twitching. I pushed her head away with my leg and turned back to James.

He flipped through the pages until he landed on the one he was looking for. "You owe me exactly 1 gald." He closed the book with a snap.

That wasn't right. My brow furrowed and I held up a finger in protest. "I'm pretty sure it was more than that, James."

_Much_ more than that.

He just waved me off with his book in hand before setting it back down on his cluttered desk. "It was, but don't worry too much about it. Elias told me the area around Tisbem Lake was full of those things. The team actually harvested a full crop - selling 'em for a good price around these parts."

I pulled at the careful wrapping around the opening, excited to look inside.

"Okay, but I sent you all over Tolbyccia, not just to the lake. I mean, the islands to the west? That's almost all the way out to Yurzorea."

I moved my own basket to the ground and pulled open the flaps of the box. I was greeted with a rainbow of colors

James nodded. "Sure, but Fortune's Market is everywhere. Didn't take much to get over there. And besides, we did more than just collect your flowers."

"Ooh," I hummed, elbows on the counter. "Find anything good?"

There was a sparkle in his eye as he leaned against his counter.. He opened his mouth with a click of the tongue, quirking up the left side of his mouth in to a lopsided grin. For a moment, I thought he would tell me just what treasures the guild had found, but he just pushed the box the rest of the way across the counter.

"Take your flowers, kiddo. The sooner you figure out how to make 'em grow here, the sooner you can sell 'em back to me."

I narrowed my eyes, but pulled the gald he asked for from a pouch at my hip and flicked it up on the counter before moving my arms to encircle the package. "You're using me. That's low."

He spread his arms out and shrugged, unapologetic. "Just business."

Shaking my head, I lifted my box and took a step back. There was some heft to it, and I had to shift both arms under its weight. "Thanks again for these."

"Any time, little 'bow," he called with a wave. "Let me know the next time you need something."

With a fond roll of my eyes, I called for Delta and began the walk home.

* * *

I spent the second half of the morning in my garden. Fortune's Market had taken special care with the herbs I'd asked for, taking the time to label each at the stem in slanting writing. They'd also managed to keep the roots carefully intact, wrapping them in cloth. Samples of soil were also included in the package, and I smiled. I'd invested well.

I took some time to separate out a handful out of the bushels that I wanted to use later for oils and salves, setting them in my own basket. The rest I planted in a small section of the garden that I had prepared with these specific plants in mind.

Halure was situated in the Peyoccia plains of Ilyccia, which had a vastly different climate than the central and western parts of Tolbyccia. The plants gathered from the area around Tisbem Lake would likely fare better than the ones from farther west, given the nutrient rich soil provided by the lake bed.

The soil I'd prepared for my own garden had been enriched with levels of aer similar to the natural environments, and had been looked over carefully by some of the herbalists from Aspio when they'd come through for diagnostics on the tree. In theory, it would be enough to allow the plants to thrive in a new territory. As a last precaution before putting the plants in the dirt, I sprinkled some of the indigenous soils into the plot, hoping that it would help them survive.

For the rest of the day, I turned my mind off and planted flowers.

* * *

I'd worked my hands raw by the time the sun was setting, and had successfully transplanted each of the foreign flora into the ground behind my house. Only time would tell if Halure would be a new territory for these particular plants.

In the meantime, I pulled out one of the books I had on my nightstand and carried it back outside to enjoy until sunset. I leafed through to the page I'd last read, the one with a dog-eared corner, as I slid down the side of the house to sit on the ground. Delta was sniffing at the empty box that my order had come in, and I lazily reached out to push her away with my foot. She danced away with a light huff and nosed the box out of my reach so she could play in peace.

A content sigh interrupted my reading, and I blinked at my partner, only to find that she had just barely squeezed herself into the box. Her legs were folded tightly underneath her, . She looked like a muffin.

I laughed aloud and put my book face down against my knees. "Are you serious? That can't be comfortable."

The box, which was easily two feet long and only another foot wide, was hardly large enough to hold her.

Delta made a chattering noise in the back of her throat and shifted, causing the left side of her body to pour over and out of the side of the box. With a huff and a toss of her head, she removed herself and paced around the edges, thinking up a new approach.

I watched her for a while, smile on my face, before picking my book back up. "Alright, suit yourself."

A short while later, there came a deep rumbling sound, and I was shaking my head before I even looked up. When I finally glanced up over the top of my knees, I could see that Delta had managed to wedge her body into the too-small box and was purring happily. Her face was lifted to the fading sunshine, eyes closed and content. It was almost as though she was smiling - mouth gently upturned at the edges as she basked in the warmth.

I went back to my book.

* * *

Oh man, I love writing Isaodra's life in Halure.

-Han


End file.
